Walking Helps Patients With Heart Failure

May 01, 2004

What's New

Previous research has found that people who have had heart failure can benefit from exercise in hospital-based programs on equipment such as bicycle ergometers. However, Teresita Corvera-Tindel, RN, PhD, and colleagues note that this equipment might not always be available to patients. To see how patients would benefit from home-based walking regimens, they studied the impact of a progressive 12-week program.

The results, reported in the February American Heart Journal, were positive. According to a February 25 Reuters Health article, “Patients in the training group achieved significantly longer walking distances within 6 minutes than the control group (1,337.1 feet versus 1,264 feet). Their overall symptom ratings were also reduced.”